Girls Basketball: Richardson scores big for Huron

By draining four 3-pointers, Richardson and the Lady Chiefs stumped the Milan Lady Reds 63-19 Tuesday night in stunning fashion, pressing Milan hard in the first half to take a commanding lead with stifling defense.

“We just came out and pressed in the first quarter,” Kalbfleisch said. ‘We did what we came to do.”

Impressive defense, including a hard press in the first quarter and steal upon steal from Richardson, fellow sophomore Savannah Floyd, and senior Kristin Wolber, held Milan to only two points in the first quarter, and six in the first half total.

No matter what the case, Floyd was able to stand out and really make it difficult for Milan to get any plays started, especially in the second half when she would record 8 of her 12 points, as well as 6 steals and 4 rebounds.

Senior Chief center Lissa Kowalewski also got in on the defensive action, recording 4 blocks and 9 rebounds, adding to the presence in the paint for Kalbfleisch’s squad.

“We played well,” he said. “I am very happy with how hard our defense played.”

The Huron defense played extremely hard. Their physical style of defense in the key led four Lady Chiefs to record 3 fouls, with the team entering into the penalty early in both halves. Milan scored 9 of its 19 points from the charity stripe.

Leading the Lady Reds was junior forward Lexus Kersey, who shot 3-5 and recorded 9 of her 11 points in the second half, attempting to light a spark for her Milan squad.

“She really came out in the second half and played aggressively,” Baden said. “We are a better basketball team when she is out on the floor.”

Also playing strong for the Lady Reds was sophomore guard Cadealia Turnage, who scored 6 points and brought down 7 rebounds, fighting her way into the paint to clean up defensive rebounds.

Forced passes and sloppy ball-handling by the Lady Reds allowed Kalbfleisch’s girls to seize opportunities for fast-break points, a strategy which the Huron coach says they try to take game to game.

“We keep the same plan for every team,” he said. “We played strong defense and plan to do the same for Jefferson.”

Although the Big Reds scored 13 of their 19 points in the second half, Baden wishes that his team would show that energy from the very beginning of games.

“We really need to play with more fire,” he said. “We really came out strong in the second half, but we need that energy all game.”

Monroe Events
click to expand

About

We're an afternoon daily with morning weekend editions. Monroe County is our specialty. The Monroe News is your only source for local news, high school sports, photos, events, crime and more in Monroe County, MI.